KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to hold an inquest into the death of Zara Qairina Mahathir, an opposition MP told the Dewan Rakyat.
Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (PN-Alor Star) said the inquest was necessary to identify those responsible, as the cause of her death and the identity of the perpetrators remained unanswered nearly a month after the incident.
“Zara is not only the child of her parents, but the child of all Malaysians who want justice for her still unanswered death,” he said during his debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan in the Dewan Rakyat.
Afnan also proposed the appointment of full-time hostel wardens who are not schoolteachers, safety audits at schools with a high incidence of bullying, installation of CCTV cameras, the drafting of anti-bullying legislation, and the immediate formation of a special cabinet committee on bullying.
The fifth measure, he said, was to create an online complaint platform that could be accessed by schools, police, and other relevant agencies.
“What exactly happened?
“Who are the perpetrators being protected?” he asked, adding that the issue had undermined public trust in schools, which should instead inspire confidence.
He said that national development and economic progress would be meaningless if moral values among those responsible for carrying out such plans continued to deteriorate.
Yesterday, the Inspector-General of Police Secretariat’s Corporate Communications Unit confirmed that a task force comprising federal police CID personnel has taken over the investigation into Zara’s death.
Zara, a Form One student of a secondary school in Papar, Sabah, was reported to have fallen from the third floor of a dormitory.
She was found unconscious in a drain on July 16 and later died while receiving treatment at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital (HQE) in Kota Kinabalu.
On July 31, Sabah police chief Datuk Jauteh Dikun said that the possibility of bullying as a factor had not been ruled out.
On Saturday, Zara’s grave was exhumed in preparation for a post-mortem.
On Sunday, the post-mortem was conducted at HQE, lasting about eight hours from 11am to 7.30pm.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
